Chapter 317

• Belle tried. By God, she tried being good. She tried not to get mixed up with a guy like August W. Booth. She really, really did. But, after their date, she happened to be very, very drunk, and he happened to be very, very weak to even think about turning her own. She remembered it well…
• Like the gentleman August proved to be, he had walked Belle up and down before her apartment after Belle had asked him to. Plus, she was in no condition to go up alone. And they both did live on the same floor, just a few doors down from one another.
• She remembers this because her heel had broken going up the stairs. And they just so happened to be Belle's favorite pair of silver sparkling heels.